


Orphans

by DreamsOfSleep



Series: Sir Nicholas The Dragon-Slayer [2]
Category: 10th Kingdom, New Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Crossover, Dragon-Slaying Knights, F/M, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-11 20:29:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7068901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamsOfSleep/pseuds/DreamsOfSleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sir Nicholas went into the Enchanted Forest to kill her, but when their eyes met, he couldn't do it. He helps her escape through the forest to safety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Mission

**Author's Note:**

> For my reader Helena. I finally watched that movie "Your Highness." The only redeeming feature I could pull out of it was the "rescue" aspect of the plot. Nick is still a knight and he is defending his moral code by helping to rescue Jess the Good Witch. 
> 
> These are some additional inspirations for this fic:
> 
>   * The Simon R. Green novel ["Blue Moon Rising,"](http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Rising-Darkwood-Simon-Green/dp/0451460553) specifically the love story of King Eduard and The Night Witch
>   * The TV miniseries ["The 10th Kingdom"](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207275/)
>   * Grimms' Fairytales - Note the archive warning for "graphic depictions of violence." I tried to maintain the same type of tone that the original Grimms' Fairytales have in all their sometimes bloody glory.
> 


He had been stalking her for over a fortnight. He knew he was close to cornering her. He was looking forward to the end of his mission, to the end of the mysterious deaths of the young girls who lived in the outer villages near the Forest.

\---

The war between the humans and the magic-users had been going on for nearly half a decade. Most of the magic-users had either been killed or driven out of the Kingdoms and into the Forest but there were still a few rebels who ventured out trying to cause trouble in the Kingdoms. The royal orders were to kill any of them on sight. 

The Enchanted Forest provided a good border between the humans and the magic-users. There was an unspoken rule that as long as the magic-users stayed in the Forest, the humans would leave them alone and the magic-users would not use their powers against the humans. Some foolhardy knights still went into the Forest trying to create a name for themselves by killing and bringing back the hearts of the magic-users. 

They usually did not return.

\---

A few weeks into the new year, young girls started disappearing from the outlying villages closest to the Enchanted Forest. There were rumors that a witch had taken up residence there and was luring young girls into the Forest to murder them and bathe in their blood to stay immortal. Most of the royals turned a blind eye and tried to ignore the problems of these peasants, but Sir Nicholas could not let such an injustice stand. He vowed to avenge the deaths of the already deceased girls and to prevent any further harm from falling on other children in the outlying villages.

He put on his armor and packed his horse with supplies. He made the difficult journey to reach the Enchanted Forest and entered the Forest to kill the witch.

\---

He crept quietly through the forest until he reached a clearing. He saw her form in the distance through the trees. She had raven hair and she was wearing an emerald green cloak that made her blend in with the trees. Her back was to him. He crept closer to her, pulling out an arrow from the pack on his back and fitting it into his bow. He aimed for her heart. Suddenly, as if sensing his presence, she turned around to face him, and their eyes met. Her eyes were startlingly blue, like the sky on a cloudless summer day. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his entire life. 

He went into the Forest to kill her, but he couldn’t do it. 

She saw him hesitate and waved her hands at him. A ball of light hit him, stunning him and knocking him out into unconsciousness.


	2. Let Me Help You

When he regains consciousness, he sees he is in a bed in a small room of a cabin. His arms and legs are tied to the bedposts by leather-bound cuffs. 

She sits on the far side of the room away from him. Her eyes are wide and frightened.

“You want to hurt me,” she said reproachfully.

“Sorry,” he said with an apologetic shrug. “They sent me out here to kill you.”

"Who?" she whispered.

"The King…They say you’re a witch. They say you're dangerous; you’ve killed people." 

"I am a witch, but I’m not dangerous. I haven’t killed anyone; that was the demons. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want them to leave me alone." 

He senses that she is telling the truth. 

"Tell me your name?" he asks her softly.

"It's Jessica. Jess."

"Hi, Jess. I’m Sir Nicholas. You can call me Nick."

He looks at the cuffs bounding his arms and legs. "Can you let me go?" 

"I can’t...you’ll hurt me." He can hear the fear and anxiety in her voice. She wrings her hands together in her lap. 

"I won’t…I promise," he says to her gently. 

She sees the sincerity in his eyes. 

From across the room, he sees her hands move and then the cuffs are gone. He rubs his wrists where they held him tightly.

"Where are we?"

"This is where I live in the Forest." She hesitates and then she asks him, "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Are you going to poison me?" he asks with a half smile.

She looks at him reproachfully again. “I wouldn’t do that.”

"I was joking…" he said. 

"Are you going to try to kill me again?" she said flatly.

"I’m supposed to, but I don’t think I will," he said. "People are just scared. I’ll just tell them I did and bring back the heart of a deer so they’ll believe me." 

"I want to go home, " she said. "But I don’t remember how to get there."

"Where’s home?" he asked her. 

She takes out a paper map. She points to a place over Dragon Mountain. 

"They killed my whole family," she said sadly.

He wants to reach out and take her hand, but he doesn’t want to spook her.

"Mine too…" he said.

"You’re an orphan?" 

He nodded. "From the last Kingdom wars. They raided my whole village. They said I could live if I swore loyalty to their king. Then I became a knight."

"I heard there is still a place over Dragon Mountain where witches live and it’s safe there."

"I’ll help you," he said. "I’ll help you get there."


	3. Into The Forest

They are walking through the Enchanted Forest on their way to Dragon Mountain. 

Nick knows they have to make it through the other side of the Forest and pass through a collection of villages to reach the base of the mountain. 

Nick is walking beside Jess leading the reins of his horse. He offered to let her ride, but she said she preferred to walk and he wanted his hands free in case he needed to engage in hand-to-hand combat in the unknown terrain of the Forest.

Nick isn’t exactly sure where they are. The Forest all starts to look the same after a while, but Jess seems to know where they are going. She walks assuredly through the confusing maze of trees and he follows her lead. 

He sneaks glances of her out of the corner of his eye. He hasn’t seen her use magic again since they left her cabin. She just seems like a normal human woman but her eyes give her away, that supernatural blue.

He thinks that she notices him furtively looking at her but she doesn’t seem to mind. She seems used to it. It makes him sad thinking how people must have treated her just for being different. Like some sort of monster for something she was born with and couldn’t help. People were suspicious and fearful of the unknown, passing on that fear through generations from their children to their children's children. That wasn't the world Nick wanted to live in though. He'd seen evil before, had it burned into his soul, and he still wanted to believe in a world that was naturally good and decent and kind where the people in it were the same way. Nick secretly thought that the magic-users couldn't be all bad; everyone was just trying to survive the best they could. 

\---

Once the sun starts sinking down and making the trees throw long shadows on the ground, they find a clearing and set up camp for the night. They set up a nest of thick blankets on the ground and sleep side by side in the tent. 

In the middle of the night, Nick is woken up with a start by her screaming. _Night terrors._ He reaches over to comfort her, but when he touches her he feels himself being thrown back by a heavy force. It presses him to the ground by his chest at the far edge of the tent so he can’t breathe. It pins his arms and legs to the ground so he can’t move. After a few minutes, the force releases him and he gets up on his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air. She is sitting up with her knees drawn to her chest, trying to make her body into a tiny ball. Her raven hair is wild and there is the stain of tears down her cheeks. 

“I’m sorry,” she says in a small voice. “I get nightmares, but please don’t touch me. I don’t like people touching me.” 

“Noted,” he says still panting for air. 

So every night when he hears her screaming and thrashing and sobbing inconsolably on her side of the tent, he grits his teeth and covers his ears, waiting for the dawn.

\---

They eventually reach a part of the woods that is pitch-black darkness. Behind them Nick can see the afternoon sunlight through the leafy green trees, but in front of them is perpetual night. _The Darkwood._ They have to pass through The Darkwood to get to the other side of the Forest. This part of the Enchanted Forest is thick with demons. Few who dare to venture through make it out alive. 

Nick regards The Darkwood with apprehension. He thinks he should go first to protect Jess in case there is danger but when he moves to step in front of her, she holds up a hand to stop him. She waves her arms and an orb of light surrounds them before she steps into The Darkwood. He follows closely behind her.

The demons gnash their teeth at the edge of the orb of light. Nick realizes that the demons in this part of the Forest can’t hurt them; she’s protecting them. The other knights all told him that she was one of them…a demon. He looks at her in awe. She’s not a demon; she’s an angel. She doesn’t walk so much as glide along the forest floor. He follows along in her benevolent, sheltering light. 

\---

It is perpetually night and time is meaningless. They can no longer tell when one day ends and another day begins since the sun no longer exists to mark the passage of time. It’s too dangerous to let their guard down and set up camp in The Darkwood. They can’t stop to rest here and they can’t turn around so they push on without stopping, without sleeping.

Nick starts hallucinating. He keeps hearing people calling for help at the edge of the light. He knows they are demons trying to lure him out, but his sleep-deprived mind keeps asking him _‘What if?’_ and he feels guilt gnawing at his conscience. He keeps pausing at the edge of the orb of light and straining to look out into the darkness trying to attach human faces to those human voices calling out to him. When Jess sees him get too far away from her, she touches his arm to redirect his attention to her and he snaps out of his trance. He’s glad she’s there next to him grounding him to reality. 

\---

One day Nick cuts down a tangled mess of tree limbs blocking their path and light comes streaming in. They both have to squint at the brightness until their eyes adjust. Nick breathes a sigh of relief as they step back out into the big, bright world.

They have finally broken through the Darkwood and left the Enchanted Forest. 

He looks over at Jess and she looks like she is ready to collapse from exhaustion. She wavers unsteadily on her feet and on instinct, he reaches out to catch her before she falls. He braces himself for that magical force to push him away from her again like it did before, but she just turns to look up into his face with tired gratitude. “Thank you,” she whispers to him. He gets her to sit down on a nearby log and gives her some of his food and water. Her fingertips brush his as she takes the offerings from him. It’s the first time they have touched skin to skin. The warmth of that brief contact lingers on his skin. It makes his heart beat a little faster knowing she is comfortable enough with him now to do that. He thinks about her being afraid her whole life of being touched, of human comfort, of letting anybody close to her, and it hurts him. When he looks into her eyes, he feels a pull within himself towards her, finding a kindred spirit just as lost and lonely as he is. He feels a yearning within himself to see her look at him with trust in her eyes. He vows to earn it.


End file.
